I stopped mentally translating from English to Swedish when I was thirteen and we visited a friend in Egypt (a Swede, a friend of my grandmother) who knew someone at the American embassy there, I believe it was, and (naturally) the guy only spoke in English.This is the first time I realized that I understood what was said when someone actually spoke in English. It was a weird experience, I can recall it still. At that time I had had English for four years in school. Back then you were otherwise exposed to one language only, most of the time (before Internet, and few TV-channels). So the answer to the question is that you stop translating once you've (1) got a sufficiently large vocabulary and (2) are sufficiently immersed in the language.